James Hilton invented Shangri-La, the mystical place of eternal life and peace in the shadow of a conical mountain in the Himalayas. He should have trade-marked it. Seventy years later, a local government decided to use the idea to promote its tourism business. Hilton had maybe read some of Joseph Rock's articles in National Geographic, but otherwise would have known little if anything about Yunnan. Yet, the book is a classic.